In accordance with the demands for present display devices to have sophisticated functions, a special display device capable of stereoscopic image display, viewing angle control, and the like by combining an optical element array such as a lenticular lens, a prism sheet, a diffusion sheet with a display panel using electro-optic element such as liquid crystal has come to be used. An example of such display device is shown in FIG. 75 to FIG. 92.
Among those, FIG. 75 shows an example of a lenticular lens sheet 109 formed by making a lenticular lens used in a stereoscopic image display device into a sheet type. Further, FIG. 92 schematically shows a structural example of a display device that uses the lenticular lens sheet 109 and an example of a method for providing stereoscopic display of an image corresponding to that.
As shown in FIG. 75, one face of the lenticular lens sheet 109 is constituted with a flat face, and a plurality of convex-type cylindrical lenses 101 having a cylindrical section are provided in parallel on the other face in a unified manner. This is extended sequentially to form a sheet.
As shown in FIG. 92, in a display panel 114, left-eye pixels 115a and right-eye pixels 115b are disposed alternately by corresponding to focal points of each of the above-described cylindrical lenses 101. Each of the cylindrical lenses 101 are formed in a unified manner in the manner as described above as the lenticular lens sheet 109 so as to function as an optical distribution module for the outside.
Further, when the lefty-eye pixels 115a and the right-eye pixels 115b are driven by a drive circuit (not shown) according to a prescribed signal, a left-eye image is formed in a left-eye region 120a and a right-eye image is formed in a right-eye region 120b, respectively, by the cylindrical lenses 101. Thereby, an observer can recognize a stereoscopic image. A typical two-dimensional image display can be provided when the left-eye pixels 115a and the right-eye pixels 115b are driven by a same signal, so that it is the structure that is also capable of achieving two-dimensional image display.
As a material of the lenticular lens sheet 109, an inorganic material such as glass or an organic material such as plastics may be used. However, in general, plastic materials are used often.
As the plastics, used are engineering plastics such as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), cyclopolyolefin (COP), polycarbonate (PC), etc.
Further, in general, a glass substrate is used for the display panel. Thus, in the structure as shown in FIG. 92, there is a difference in the coefficient of linear expansion generated between that of the lenticular lens sheet that is a plastic material. Therefore, when there is a change in the use temperature, the state of the stereoscopic image display varies due to contraction of the lenticular lens sheet 109. Thus, it may become impossible to achieve stereoscopic visual recognition in the worst cases.
For a series of issues regarding the changes in the use temperature, Patent Document 1 proposes a combination of the optical distribution module and the display panel described above.
FIG. 93 shows the technical content disclosed in Patent Document 1. In FIG. 93, when inputting a temperature signal showing the peripheral temperature of a multi-view display device, it is so depicted that the distortion amount of shielded positions of a light-shielding panel 208 for corresponding to the peripheral temperature can be corrected, and that highly accurate viewing angle and view field range adjustment can be achieved.
FIG. 94 schematically shows the basic structure of the present invention disclosed in Patent Document 2 that is another related technique. In the invention disclosed in Patent Document 2 shown in FIGS. 94A and 94B, the coefficients of linear expansion of the main materials constituting a lens array 260 and an original image 270 are set to be almost equivalent.
FIG. 95 and FIG. 96 show the basic content of the technique proposed in Patent Document 3.
As shown in FIG. 95, a prescribed signal is sent from a controller 322 to an image shift section 304 and a refracting section 318 of the image shift section 304 functioning as the optical distribution module controls an electric field according to the temperature information by being energized by the controller 322 by using a crystal such as calcite whose refractive index can be changed by an electric field as shown in FIG. 96.
Further, Patent Document 4 discloses a technique regarding a display device for measuring a peripheral atmosphere temperature of a light-emitting element, and setting the drive condition of the light-emitting element based thereupon (not shown). This technique is designed in view of the fact that fluctuation of the atmosphere temperature influences the light-emitting property of a light-emitting diode when the light-emitting diode is used as the light-emitting element, and the driving condition of the light-emitting diode is set and used by corresponding to the temperature.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2006-184900    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2005-189864    Patent Document 3: JP 3816813 B    Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2009-16384
However, there are following inconvenient issues with the related techniques described above. In the case of the display device (FIG. 93) disclosed in Patent Document 1, the distortion amount due to the temperature change is considerably small, i.e., several ppm to several tens ppm.
Thus, in order to correct it only with the shielded positions of the light-shielding panel 208, at least ten to hundred times or higher of the resolution with respect to the resolution of a TFT-LCD (liquid crystal display element) 221 is required as the resolution of the light-shielding panel 208.
Thus, the device cost becomes extremely high.
In the case of the display device (FIG. 94) disclosed in Patent Document 2, there is a large restriction generated for selecting the materials in order to make the coefficients of linear expansion of the main materials constituting the lens array 260 and the original image 270 substantially equivalent. In particular, when glass is used as the main material of the member for forming the original image, it is difficult to use the plastic-based materials for the lens array.
This causes many inconveniences in terms of reduction in the cost, reduction in the weight, flexibility, and the like, which are the great disadvantage for being developed into a product.
In the case of the display device (FIG. 95 to FIG. 96) disclosed in Patent Document 3, it is required to employ an electric-field controllable material for the optical distribution module.
Thus, the device cost is extremely increased.
The display device disclosed in Patent Document 4 is a device in which the temperature dependency of the light-emitting diode is improved, and there is no disclosure regarding the temperature property of the lens array related to 3D.
An object of the present invention is to provide a stereoscopic display device, a method for generating stereoscopic display image data, and a program therefor capable of effectively displaying stereoscopic images by corresponding to the environmental condition where the use temperature changes, when a lens eye that is excellent in the productivity and the cost is used.
In order to achieve the foregoing object, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, for example, the stereoscopic display device according to the present invention includes: a stereoscopic display panel including a display panel section having a plurality of unit pixels and an image distributing section for distributing and outputting visual recognition image data sent out from the display panel section as visual recognition stereoscopic image information towards outside; a display panel driving section which drives the display panel section of the stereoscopic display panel; and a stereoscopic image generating module which controls actions of the display panel driving section and generates 3D image data for driving the display panel based on three-dimensional data containing depth information of z-axis direction specified in advance.
Among those, the stereoscopic image generating module is provided with: a temperature sensor which detects temperatures of the image distributing section; and a data storage section which stores information regarding an effective linear expansion coefficient difference between the image distributing section and the display panel section when the both are in a fixed state, size of the display panel section, resolution of the unit pixels, a reference temperature, and 3D crosstalk characteristic as parameter information regarding an inherent stereoscopic viewing region of the stereoscopic display panel.
Further, the stereoscopic image generating module includes: a deformation amount calculating section which calculates a temperature difference ΔT between temperature information detected by the temperature sensor and the reference temperature, and calculates a deformation amount that is a contraction amount or an expansion amount which changes due to a change in surrounding environment temperatures of the image distributing section based on the temperature difference ΔT and the information stored in the data storage section; and a main arithmetic operation controller which, when the deformation amount regarding contraction or expansion is calculated by the deformation amount calculating section, generates 3D image data corresponding thereto and outputs the generated data to the display panel driving section for driving the display panel.
In order to achieve the foregoing object, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 6, for example, the stereoscopic display image data generating method according to the present invention is used for a stereoscopic display device which includes: a stereoscopic display panel including a display panel section having a plurality of unit pixels and an image distributing section for distributing and outputting visual recognition image data sent out from the display panel section as visual recognition stereoscopic image information towards outside; a display panel driving section which drives the display panel section of the stereoscopic display panel according to 3D image data; and a stereoscopic image generating module including a main arithmetic operation controller which controls actions of the display panel driving section and generates 3D image data for driving the display panel based on three-dimensional data containing depth information of z-axis direction specified in advance, and the method includes:                detecting temperatures of the image distributing section by a temperature sensor and calculating a temperature difference ΔT with respect to a reference temperature set in advance (a temperature difference calculating step); comparing the calculated temperature difference ΔT and a reference value ΔTth set separately in advance by their absolute values and, in a case of |ΔT|>|ΔTth|, judging that it is necessary to perform correction regarding a parallax amount specified on the x-axis of the 3D image data (correction necessity judging step); when judged in the judgment of the correction necessity as |ΔT|≦|ΔTth| and that the correction is unnecessary, performing rendering processing on the three-dimensional data as it is (image processing step); and generating 3D image data for driving the display panel based on a result acquired by the rendering processing (3D image data generating step).        
In order to achieve the foregoing object, as shown in FIG. 26 and FIG. 27, for example, the stereoscopic display image data generating method according to the present invention is used for a stereoscopic display device which includes: a stereoscopic display panel including a display panel section having a plurality of unit pixels and an image distributing section for distributing and outputting visual recognition image data sent out from the display panel section as visual recognition stereoscopic image information towards outside; a display panel driving section which drives the display panel section of the stereoscopic display panel; and a stereoscopic image generating module including a main arithmetic operation controller which controls actions of the display panel driving section and generates 3D image data for driving the display panel based on three-dimensional data containing depth information of z-axis direction specified in advance, wherein:                when generating the 3D image data, a temperature sensor measures temperatures of the display panel part in advance, and a deformation amount calculating section calculates a temperature difference ΔT with respect to a reference temperature set in advance based on the measurement value (temperature difference calculating step); then, 3D image data acquired by performing rendering processing on three-dimensional data is stored for a depth map (depth map information specifying step); a temperature difference judging section compares the calculated temperature difference ΔT with a reference value ΔTth set separately in advance by their absolute values and, in a case of |ΔT|>|ΔTth|, judges that it is necessary to perform correction regarding a parallax amount of the 3D image data (correction necessity judging step); and the image data stored in the data storage section is outputted as two-dimensional 3D depth map image data having depth information corresponding to the parallax amount of the three-dimensional data when it is judged in the correction necessity judging step that the temperature difference ΔT is |ΔT|≦|ΔTth| and it is under a temperature environment that does not require correction of the parallax amount (3D image data generating step).        
In order to achieve the foregoing object, as shown in FIG. 35, for example, the stereoscopic display image data generating method according to the present invention is used for a stereoscopic display device which includes: a stereoscopic display panel including a display panel section having a plurality of unit pixels and an image distributing section for distributing and outputting visual recognition image data sent out from the display panel section as visual recognition stereoscopic image information towards outside; a display panel driving section which drives the display panel section of the stereoscopic display panel; and a stereoscopic image generating module including a main arithmetic operation controller which controls actions of the display panel driving section and generates 3D image data for driving the display panel based on three-dimensional data containing depth information, wherein:                when a pair of parallax image data A for the right eye and the left eye rendering-processed in advance are inputted, the main arithmetic operation controller accumulates the data to a data storage section provided in advance for generating 3D image data (target image data setting step); a temperature difference ΔT with respect to a reference temperature set in advance is calculated based on the temperature of the image distributing section measured by a temperature sensor when collecting the parallax image data A (temperature difference calculating step); an arithmetic operation is individually performed regarding whether or not the temperature difference |ΔT| specified in the temperature difference calculating step is equal to or less than a reference value |ΔTth| set in advance, and it is judged whether or not it is under a temperature environment that requires correction for parallax amount of each object specified on an x-axis on an xy plane that is a display face (temperature difference judging step); and when it is judged by the temperature difference judgment that the temperature difference ΔT is |ΔT|≦|ΔTth| and it is under a temperature environment that does not require correction of the parallax amount, two-dimensional 3D image data having depth information that corresponds to the parallax amount is generated and outputted for driving the display panel based on the pair of parallax image data A stored in the data storage section.        
In order to achieve the foregoing object, the stereoscopic display image data generating program according to the present invention is used for a stereoscopic display device which includes: a stereoscopic display panel including a display panel section having a plurality of unit pixels and an image distributing section for distributing and outputting visual recognition image data sent out from the display panel section as visual recognition stereoscopic image information towards outside; a display panel driving section which drives the display panel section of the stereoscopic display panel according to 3D image data; and a stereoscopic image generating module including a main arithmetic operation controller which controls actions of the display panel driving section and generates 3D image data for driving the display panel based on three-dimensional data containing depth information captured separately, and the program causes a computer to execute:                a temperature difference calculating function which calculates a temperature difference ΔT with respect to a reference temperature set in advance separately, when a temperature of the image distributing section is inputted from a temperature sensor provided in advance; a correction necessity judging function which compares the calculated temperature difference ΔT and a reference value ΔTth set in advance separately by their absolute values, judges that it is necessary to perform correction regarding a parallax amount specified on an x-axis of the 3D image data in a case of |ΔT|>|ΔTth|, and judges that it is unnecessary to perform correction regarding the parallax amount in a case of |ΔT|≦|ΔTth|; an image processing function which performs rendering processing on the three-dimensional data when it is judged by the correction necessity judging function as |ΔT|≦|ΔTth| and that the correction is unnecessary; and a 3D image data generating function which generates 3D image data for driving the display panel based on result acquired by the rendering processing.        
In order to achieve the foregoing object, the stereoscopic display information generating program is used for a stereoscopic display device which includes: a stereoscopic display panel including a display panel section constituted with a plurality of unit pixels and an image distributing section for distributing and outputting visual recognition image data outputted from the display panel section as visual recognition stereoscopic image information towards outside; a display panel driving section which drives the display panel section of the stereoscopic display panel; and a stereoscopic image generating module including a main arithmetic operation controller which controls actions of the display panel driving section and generates 3D image data for driving the display panel based on three-dimensional data containing depth information captured separately, and the program causes a computer to execute:                a temperature difference calculating function which, when generating the 3D image data, calculates a temperature difference ΔT with respect to a reference temperature set in advance based on a temperature of the stereoscopic display panel part measured by a temperature sensor; a depth map information specifying function which stores 3D image data acquired by performing rendering processing on the captured three-dimensional data to a memory to be used for a depth map image; a correction necessity judging function which compares the calculated temperature difference ΔT with a reference value ΔTth set in advance by their absolute values and, in a case of |ΔT|>|ΔTth|, judges that it is necessary to perform correction regarding a parallax amount of the 3D image data; and a 3D image data generating function which operates when it is judged by the correction necessity judging function that the temperature difference ΔT is |ΔT|≦|ΔTth| and it is under a temperature environment that does not require correction of the parallax amount to output the image data stored in the memory as two-dimensional 3D depth map image data having the depth information that corresponds to the parallax amount of the three-dimensional data.        
In order to achieve the foregoing object, the stereoscopic display image data generating program is used for a stereoscopic display device which includes: a stereoscopic display panel including a display panel section having a plurality of unit pixels and an image distributing section for distributing and outputting visual recognition image data sent out from the display panel section as visual recognition stereoscopic image information towards outside; a display panel driving section which drives the display panel section of the stereoscopic display panel; and a stereoscopic image generating module which controls actions of the display panel driving section and generates 3D image data for driving the display panel based on three-dimensional data containing depth information, and the program causes the computer to execute:                a target image data setting function which, by the stereoscopic image generating module, inputs a pair of parallax image data A for the right eye and the left eye rendering-processed in advance for generating 3D image data, and accumulates those to a data storage section provided in advance; a temperature difference calculating function which calculates a temperature difference ΔT with respect to a reference temperature set in advance based on a measurement value of the temperature of the image distributing section measured by a temperature sensor when collecting the parallax image data A; a correction necessity judging function which individually performs an arithmetic operation regarding whether or not the temperature difference ΔT calculated by the temperature difference calculating function is equal to or less than an absolute value of a reference value ΔTth set in advance, and judges whether or not it is under a temperature environment that requires correction for parallax amount of each object specified on an x-axis on an xy plane that is a screen face as the display face containing z-axis information as depth information; and a 3D image data generating function which operates when it is judged by the correction necessity judging function that the temperature difference ΔT is |ΔT|≦|ΔTth| and it is under a temperature environment that does not require correction of the parallax amount to generate and output two-dimensional 3D image data having depth information that corresponds to the parallax amount based on the pair of parallax image data A stored in the data storage section for driving the display panel.        
The present invention is structured to drive the stereoscopic display device panel by generating 3D image data by corresponding even to the temperature changes in the peripheral environments of the stereoscopic display device. Therefore, even when there is a change in the environment temperature, it is possible to display the 3D image in a stable state by corresponding to that.
Thus, the stereoscopic visibility can be improved without giving a sense of uncomfortablenss to the observers.